Unions, Managers, and the End of Hostess

As I'm sure you all have heard already, Hostess, the maker of Twinkies and other unhealthy snacks, has had to declare bankruptcy and sell off its assets. This has cost 18,500 workers their jobs, right before Christmas no less, and hurt the economies of cities where the company has operations.

The straw that broke the camel's back was the recent strike by the unionized workers. However, as my  more left-wing Facebook friends pointed out, the company's executives were increasing their salaries at a time when the company wasn't doing well in terms of income. Lest you think this is just leftist agitprop intent on absolving unions from blame, there's this article from Daily Finance that confirms it.

When I first posted on this on Facebook, I criticized the union for killing the goose that laid the golden egg. However, with the whole thing about management raising their salaries when the company was hurting coming out, it seems they're not the only ones guilty of that particular folly.

Seriously, there's some major short-sightedness going on with both labor and management. Had the unions been more flexible (some of them were, but others weren't), that wouldn't have solved the issue of the managers raising their salaries rather than investing the funds in the business or the structural problems of the company not changing its products even in our more health-conscious age, but at least it would have kept 18,500 workers employed in the short run. And even though the Daily Finance article references how many of the managers agreed to reduce their salaries, others didn't. And then there's the lack of innovation or adaptation to changing tastes as well, which was another problem.

Everyone involved should have thought more about the long-run, be it their own employment (the less-flexible unions that didn't agree to the concessions) or the management who raised their salaries in a time of stagnant or declining revenue and weren't being innovative. Now everyone involved has no jobs and, for the moment, America has no Twinkies.

I Write About Jon Huntsman

Earlier this year, I posted here about why I supported Mitch Daniels as the 2012 Republican nominee.  Unfortunately, Daniels decided not to run this year.

So I set out in search of a new candidate.  Mitt Romney has an alarming tendency to change his views to gather popularity, while Rick Perry doesn't seem to believe in evolution and has interfered with the investigation about whether Texas may have executed an innocent man.  Rick Santorum actually used the phrase "man on dog" in an interview, while Ron Paul, who I once supported quite zealously, said he would not have authorized the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

And then I found Jon Huntsman, who is fiscally conservative but doesn't have social views that would repel a growing percentage of the American electorate.

(Check out the book The Emerging Democratic Majority.  As the U.S. grows less white, less Protestant, and less Christian generally, Religious Right-type views are more and more going to be an albatross around any candidate's neck.)

Here's a column I wrote about Huntsman for my newspaper.

Don't overlook lesser-known GOP candidate in 2012

Let me emphasize this is NOT an endorsement, since my newspaper does not endorse individual candidates.  However, it is a list of reasons why Huntsman would make a good candidate.  And for good measure, I don't take shots at any of the other candidates--instead, I merely explain Huntsman's strengths.

Now to find a Huntsman group in Georgia.  In 2008, there were Ron Paul groups and I was even a member of one.  However, searching Meetup.com found nothing Huntsman-related in Atlanta and Googling "Georgians for Huntsman" only found me an anemic Twitter feed.

The Georgia Republican primary is February 7, 2012.  There really isn't all that much time left.

P.S.

If you all are ever in Little Five Points in Atlanta, be sure to check out Fox Brothers Bar-B-Q.  It's better than Shane's or any other BBQ place I've even been to.  I especially like the brisket.

Steampunk and Frozen Yogurt in Gwinnett County

I'd had plans to visit the Boiler Room, a steampunk-themed shop opening in Duluth, yesterday, but covering a health fair for my newspaper and making sausage-cheese bread for my potluck took up most of the day.

So I decided to check it out today.  To make things cooler, it turns out my friend David Carswell from the Boy Scouts had opened a new business, Five Spot Yogurt, in Snellville.  I figured I'd hit the Boiler Room first and then Five Spot afterward, since Duluth is halfway to Snellville anyway.

Unfortunately, the Boiler Room's weekend hours were to be determined--they were closed.  Maybe I'll head over there sometime later, but it's a fair drive and the hours are such that going before or after work is going to be a problem.

However, I found David's shop was a happening place.  When I got there, there was a big crowd at the door.  Since the local fire inspector hadn't checked out the sprinkler system, customers weren't allowed in and were being served outside.  However, being the media, I guess I'm not a customer, and soon we were sitting in some nice leather chairs along the wall.

David and I were both Eagle Scouts in BSA Troop 1011 in Marietta, but I hadn't really kept up with him even though we both attended the University of Georgia.  He graduated ahead of me and ran an AT&T store in Watkinsville with a friend.  In 2008, he became a franchisee for Little Caesars and with a business partner owned four stores.  The two of them parted company, with David inheriting the Little Caesars in Alpharetta and Duluth.  It was after this that he went into the frozen yogurt business.

"I saw a need for a good frozen yogurt shop in Snellville," he said.

He started working on it in September 2010.  He found a location and started working on the design.  Jessica Mullis from UGA helped create the logo, while another friend, Nicole Morgan, helped design and furnish the interior.  He purchased the equipment and signed the lease.

There are a lot of these weigh-your-own-frozen-yogurt places these day, so I asked him what the difference between Five Spot and the other places were.  David explained that on Monday through Thursday, the prices are capped at $5.00 regardless of the weight.  There are also comfortable leather chairs.

"We offer free WiFi," he said.

He said his yogurt was better-quality than many other yogurt places since it's liquid-based.

"It's not grainy like the other ones," he said.  "It's very smooth texture."

I had some chocolate/vanilla swirl frozen yogurt--my standard choice for frozen-yogurt places, along with vanilla mixed with Oreos or chocolate-chip cookie dough--after I finished speaking with him.  David was right--none of the powdery bits that I've noticed at Yogli Mogli to be found here.

There're 16 flavors and over 40 toppings.  David said he hadn't introduced new flavors yet, but he did intend to provide some later.  For example, there'd be jelly-flavored frozen yogurt to go with the peanut-butter-flavored yogurt already there.

Although customers should be able to go inside by May 23, there's still work to be done on the interiors.  David plans to put photographs on the walls, along with more dot-patterns.  I asked if he intended for a giant mural of Optimus Prime fighting Megatron (like in Scrubs) and he said no.  Drat.  The big empty wall across from the cash registers would be a perfect spot for a very large piece of art, but it's his shop and his decision.

I don't think I'll be coming out there very often, since it's a 40-minute drive from where I live.  However, I figured those who live in Gwinnett County might be interested in checking it out.  The yogurt is very good and the seating is comfortable, plus that $5 cap strikes me as something big yogurt-eaters would appreciate.  It's in the same general shopping center as the Borders and Carmike Cinemas are along Scenic Highway, but it's at the far end of the development near the Panera Bread.

The Proper Way to Deal With Invasive Lionfish: Eat Them!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101230/od_nm/us_usa_florida_lionfish

I went SCUBA diving with my dad in Key Largo in the summer of 2009 and I remember taking a boat tour of the mangrove islands offshore one morning.  The guide made references to lionfish-hunts intended to obliterate the fish entirely, since they had no natural predators and were destroying the local ecology.

One of the best ways to get something done is to provide a profit motive for it, so I have high hopes for this effort.  I wonder if one could transform it into a full-blown industry, although that would provide incentive to keep a few lionfish around rather than exterminate them.  That's what the goal of this whole project should be--eradicate an invasive species before it does too much damage.

Good luck, good hunting, and good eating.  For those of you who are interested, here's The Lionfish Cookbook for you to purchase.